From Planning to Delivery: Supporting a Japanese Exhibitor at IberKanpai 

I just wanted to share a small fun bit!

May 25th – 26th of 2026, I recently led my first fully independent trade show participation for an Osaka-based client, building on previous experience with shared responsibilities. (Various clients)

The event, called IberKanpai, was held in Madrid. The organisers are trying to position it as Spain’s most important Japanese Gastronomy and Sake trade show and a new point of reference for Japanese F&B companies wanting to expand into the EU via Spain. ( This was its second year.)

In the 2025 edition, I acted more as a light hand holder and liaison. This time I handled all of the details, logistics, and coordination, from mitigating last year’s pain points to handling delicate issues between suppliers. (…We have a unique collaborator-triangle that we are making auto-sufficient in terms of product sales and distribution.)

Anyways, the event participation went great! I’m super relieved and happy! We generated many leads, a few new distribution points B2B/C, and successfully increased product/ brand awareness and importantly we stayed within the budget!

Another key point was to respect the limited bandwidth that the client had to give to this project.. fortunately they trusted me and allowed me to design/control the process and only stepped in when I had important questions or doubts.

It’s very difficult to know when to ‘raise my hand’ for guidance on a topic while trying respect their limited time and energy resources.

Of course, I tried to practice my Japanese language skills throughout the event … and I think it caused more confusion than help, but next year it’ll be better. 😄

Feel free to drop in any tips or thoughts on anything I’ve mentioned.  > > Click here to open our linked-in post